No... I don't think they're there to be burnt, I think that they're there to... er... dissuade intruders.

I suspect that they're going to turn out to be carnivorous wee beasties of some sort or another. Ravenous, you see, and insatiable. They'll eat anything and everything alive that comes into the small attack zone around their burrows.

I reckon that they're the first wandering monsters the team will run into on this quest.

That or they're voracious borrowers there to facilitate access to the buried city… and their appetite for stone makes hiding them doubly desirable; first so that he nature of their operation doesn't leak and second because rock-eating monsters are doubtless very illegal in a city largely made of same.

P.S. Has anyone given thought to the nature of this scroll they're after? Would it be terribly surprising or disappointing to ind that it wasn't th blueprints for some arcane super weapon or a mighty war-ending ritual but merely the original title deed to the city?

Mr_Rose wrote:That or they're voracious borrowers there to facilitate access to the buried city… and their appetite for stone makes hiding them doubly desirable; first so that he nature of their operation doesn't leak and second because rock-eating monsters are doubtless very illegal in a city largely made of same.

P.S. Has anyone given thought to the nature of this scroll they're after? Would it be terribly surprising or disappointing to ind that it wasn't th blueprints for some arcane super weapon or a mighty war-ending ritual but merely the original title deed to the city?

Maybe it's like the Philosopher's Legacy? If MGS3 taught us anything it's that people will send other people on absurdly silly missions to get some green.

Mr_Rose wrote:P.S. Has anyone given thought to the nature of this scroll they're after? Would it be terribly surprising or disappointing to ind that it wasn't th blueprints for some arcane super weapon or a mighty war-ending ritual but merely the original title deed to the city?

Or something completely useless but would have once been important enough to keep hidden. Something like the business ledgers of certain long-vanished businesses that, at the time, were the movers and shakers of commerce in the city.

Well, we now know that the entrance to the Lost City is in the 'Caldera Temple', i.e. the volcano. So, that confirms (IMHO at least) that these critters are perimeter guards to be beaten before entering the catacombs.

Just consider the implication - those nasty teeth are from the lv.1 wandering monsters! Just how bad are things going to get down there?